


Saving Sophie

by machka



Series: Schmoop Bingo - Love Story (Brookemann) [17]
Category: Real Person Fiction, Tulsa Gangstas
Genre: Community: schmoop_bingo, F/M, Prompt Fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-07-02
Updated: 2010-07-02
Packaged: 2017-10-20 03:47:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,718
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/208425
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/machka/pseuds/machka
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>'We give dogs time we can spare, space we can spare, and love we can spare. And in return, dogs give us their all.' - M. Facklam</p><p>Even dogs deserve a "happily ever after."</p>
            </blockquote>





	Saving Sophie

**Author's Note:**

> Co-authored by [cebhfhionnmabon](http://cebhfhionnmabon.livejournal.com/profile).
> 
> Written for the [schmoop_bingo](http://schmoop-bingo.livejournal.com/profile/) challenge, using the prompt "Animal Rescue."
> 
> Disclaimer: The following is a work of fiction. The events described therein are not intended to represent actual events. No libel or defamation is intended in posting said fictitious work.
> 
> In other words, it's not real, because we made it all up.

Brooke finished loading the groceries into the back of the car, just as the rain started to pour. She laughed and hurriedly got into the car, brushing her drenched hair out of her face.

She sent a quick text to Neal: <on my way home. car is loaded with groceries so be ready to help bring them in. it's raining cats and dogs here - should hit there soon.>

She pulled out of the parking lot and started the familiar drive back to the house. There were still a couple of blocks to go when the car in front of her slammed on the brakes, and she quickly did the same, barely stopping in time. She looked ahead of the car to see what had made him stop so suddenly. She didn't see anything...until she saw a black blur head for the side of the road, and then stop and collapse against the curb.

"Oh, no," she whispered, worried that some little animal had gotten hit by a car. She quickly put on her four way flashers and grabbed the towel that was on the floor in the back seat. Darting over to the side of the road, she cautiously approached what was quickly made apparent to be a little black Lab puppy.

"Oh, you poor little baby," she whispered, and watched as the puppy turned its head toward her and wagged its little tail weakly. Brooke carefully scooped the injured puppy up in the towel and headed back to the car. She laid it on the front seat beside her and then started to drive again.

Neal's phone vibrated in his pocket, chiming the incoming text. He pulled it out and looked at it, grinning to himself, before glancing up at the sound of rain beginning to hit the patio door and kitchen windows.

He slid open the door and whistled for the dogs, hustling them inside quickly. "Sorry, Einstein..." he murmured, grabbing the Beagle as he dashed by. "You have to go in your crate right now...Mommy's gonna be home with groceries and you really can't help us unload them..."

He set Einstein in his crate with a toy and a bone, clicking the latch into place. Standing up slowly, he opened the pantry cabinet and the fridge, assessing where they had room to put the fresh food.

Brooke could hear the little puppy whimpering as she drove, and she started to sing a soft little lullaby to try and calm it down. At the stop sign before the house she sent another quick text to Neal: <ran into a bit of trouble, bring another towel out to the car...be there in five seconds>

Neal's smile at the buzz and chime of his phone turned into a concerned frown at the incoming message. "That doesn't sound good at all..." he muttered, heading immediately to the linen closet to grab out a large towel.

Brooke pulled into the driveway and waited for Neal. She knew that he was a lot better with dogs than she was, so she would let him pick the puppy up and figure out what was wrong.

Neal watched at the window for her car to pull up, and headed outside with the towel over his head a bit as the sprinkle tried to strengthen into a drizzle, heading for the driver's side door.

As Brooke watched Neal come out of the house with the towel and toward her side of the car, she shook her head and pointed at the passenger's side, where the puppy was still curled up.

Neal cocked his head in confusion, switching direction to head for the other door.

He opened it carefully, blinking at the black pup on the seat beside her, and glanced up at her for an explanation.

Brooke spoke softly so as not to startle the puppy. "I'm pretty sure that the car in front of me hit it, or just nicked it..." She looked up at Neal. "I couldn't just leave it by the side the road."

Neal's expression softened from confusion to compassion as he leaned in, holding the back of his hand out for the puppy to sniff.

The little Lab's nose twitched slightly as it sniffed, and the towel wrapped around its backside shifted slightly as its tail started wagging. The pup's small pink tongue darted out, licking at Neal's hand, and a soft smile spread across Neal's lips.

"Okay, little guy...we need to get you inside, get a look at you...and we gotta bring in the groceries, too..." Neal murmured lowly. Wrapping the bigger towel around the small pup, Neal pulled it slowly closer, using the towel underneath the pup, watching carefully for signs of discomfort. Very gently, he gathered the puppy into his arms, still murmuring soothingly as he carried it into the house.

Brooke gathered up as many bags of groceries as she could and followed Neal into the house. She worried her bottom lip as she saw Neal murmuring to the little puppy. "Does it have a collar or tags?"

Neal carefully set the puppy on the kitchen table, unwrapping the towels slowly. There was a slight indentation in the fur around the pup's neck, indicating where a collar may have once sat, but there was no sign of anything now.

"Looks like whatever this little guy had at one time is long gone," Neal murmured, gently feeling the puppy's skull and jaw for signs of injury. "No way of knowin' if it fell off, or was removed, though..."

Brooke sat the grocery bags down and then walked up behind Neal. "Is it a boy or a girl?" she asked softly, so that she didn't scare it.

Neal murmured softly to the puppy, running his hands over its neck to its back and chest. "...Little girl..." he whispered a moment later, watching the puppy's face for signs of distress at his careful handling.

The puppy had stretched her head out on the table, panting softly as Neal checked her for injury. When his arm brushed against her hind leg, though, her head came up sharply with a high-pitched yelp of pain, setting Einstein off in a flurry of barks and bringing Sixx's head up onto the table in curiosity, sniffing at the stranger.

"I'm sorry, little one," Neal murmured soothingly, freezing in place as the Lab puppy mouthed his arm. "Now I know, okay?" He laid the hand not currently being used as a chew toy on the top of her head, petting her slowly until she settled down again.

Brooke gasped softly at the sound of the puppy's whimper of pain. "I'm going to hurry and get the rest of the groceries in before the ice cream melts in the car...should we call the vet?"

"Sounds good..." Neal murmured, very carefully checking each of the puppy's front legs before taking a deep breath and looking at the pup's back legs again. "...Probably should...but let's get th'frozen stuff inside so we can go..."

Brooke nodded and kissed Neal's neck before she darted outside and grabbed the rest of the groceries. She got them into the house and put away. Turning to Neal, she came up behind him and wrapped her arms around him. "You want me to call, make sure Dr. Sarah is there today?"

Neal smiled softly, leaning back into her arms, his hand still caressing the puppy's head. "Sure...she's the family vet, after all..." He laid his free hand on the puppy's flank, carefully palpating the hip a few seconds before lifting his hand when the pup whimpered loudly. "...Tell her we've got a stray with a hip or hind leg injury..."

Apologetically, Neal cradled the little Lab's head in his hands, kissing her flaring nose softly, murmuring low endearments.

Brooke nodded and pulled away from Neal, picking up the phone. She looked down the list of emergency numbers beside the phone and found the vet. She called in and explained the situation, and was relieved to find out that Dr. Sarah was in and would be waiting on them.

"Ok... she's there and she is getting an exam room ready for us."

Neal nodded, wrapping the puppy up carefully in the towels again. "Sorry to jostle, little one..." he murmured to the pup, and scooped her up gently into his arms, nodding to Brooke. "Let's go, love."

Brooke opened the doors for Neal, waiting for him to slip into the passenger's seat, before she went around and slipped into the driver's seat. "Let's get going then...get this little girl right as rain."

Neal smiled faintly at her apparent pun and nodded, buckling himself in and holding the puppy gently in his arms. "...Wonder if she's got a chip..." he mused out loud, rubbing the pup's ears.

Brooke looked over at Neal as she drove. "I hope so... I would hate to see her not to be able to find her home," she whispered. "If...they don't find her home...do you want to keep her?"

Neal's smile returned and deepened just a touch. "If there's no one lookin' for her, and no chip..." He looked down at the puppy's face, staring into her brown eyes, and sighed softly. "...Yeah. Hate t'see her go through all of this and then not have a good home..."

Brooke smiled softly. She pulled into the vet's office parking lot and put the car in park. "She would fit right in with our boys," she said softly.

Neal laughed softly. "Yeah, I'm sure she would, when she's feelin' better...but don't get your hopes up, love. We need t'try and find her family first."

Brooke nodded. "Yes, that would be the happiest for her..." she replied slowly, biting her lip. "You want me to hold her while you get out?"

Neal tilted his head, studying Brooke's face a moment. "...Sweetheart...I know. It's okay, we'll talk about it, all right?" he said softly, laying a gentle hand on her arm. "Yes, you can hold her while I get out...just be careful with her hind end, okay?" Neal murmured, easing the puppy into Brooke's waiting arms.

Letting himself out of the car, he scooted around to her side of the car, opening the door for her.

Brooke let out a breath and smiled softly at Neal as she took the puppy from him, holding her gently.

She watched as Neal walked around the car, and then held her arms up carefully so that he could scoop the puppy back into his arms. She got out and shut the door, following Neal into the office.

The receptionist smiled brightly at the pair as they walked into the reception area. "Hello, Mr. and Mrs. Tiemann! How are you today? Is this the little one you'd called about earlier?"

Neal nodded, smiling back. "Yeah, Amy, this is th'one," he confirmed.

"All right," Amy replied. "Let me get you checked in, and Denise will be right out to bring you back to an exam room. Please have a seat?"

Neal nodded and perched carefully in one of the plastic chairs in the waiting area, smiling at the other pets on leashes and in carriers, bouncing around and being social.

Brooke sat down next to Neal and let out a breath. "I'm going to look at the bulletin board and see if she matches the descriptions of any of the lost dogs."

"Good idea," Neal murmured, leaning in to give Brooke a quick peck on the cheek. "Looks like there's a bunch of HomeAgain lost pet alerts...maybe she'll be one of them..."

Brooke walked over to the bulletin board and started to look through the pictures. She got to the end of the bottom of the board and noticed a blurry picture for a lost three month old black Lab puppy. She pulled the paper off the wall and walked over to Neal, handing him the paper. "What do you think...?"

Neal studied the picture and looked down at the little face of the dog in his lap. "Could be...she's about the right age..." He glanced up as Denise, their technician, called them back to the exam room. "Let's get this little one looked at, first...I'm sure they'll want x-rays and all that...maybe while we're waitin' on Dr. Sarah, we can run that over to Amy and see if she can call those folks? Anything on there 'bout a microchip?"

He walked into the exam room and set the puppy on the table. While Denise looked the pup over, he and Brooke told her what they knew about what had happened and the pup's possible injuries.

Denise nodded and pulled the microchip scanner out of the cabinet. "Let's take a look..." she murmured, running the scanner over the puppy's back, and smiled when the scanner chirped. "Yep, there we are!" she grinned, scribbling the microchip number onto the puppy's chart.

Brooke leaned against Neal as everyone did their jobs, rushing around them as they worked. "I hope that she's okay...and that her family is happy that she was found," she whispered into the back of Neal's shoulder.

Neal turned around and wrapped his arms around Brooke tightly, pulling her close to him. "I know, love..." he murmured softly, pressing a gentle kiss to the crown of her head. "I'm sure they'll be thrilled...remember when Einstein got away, when he was little? Remember how worried you were? We _both_ were? Luckily, nothing happened t'him, and he made his own way back home...but..."

Neal stopped speaking a moment, thinking it best not to dwell on what might have happened, especially when everything ended up all right for them.

"...But this little girl..." he continued, hugging Brooke tighter, "...I'm sure her family's just as worried. They did all the right things - got her chipped, came and put up fliers...it's gonna be okay, Brooke..."

Brooke nodded and let out a sigh. "I know...I'm just being silly," she whispered and wrapped her arms around him.

Neal nodded against her hair. "I know, Brooklyn - you just want another baby in the house so bad, don't you..." He kissed the side of her head again, remembering the trials and tribulations of raising young puppies...but also how rewarding it could be...

Brooke smiled and poked Neal in the side gently. "Maybe I do. What are you going to do about it, Nat?" she said softly, teasing him.

Neal leaned back a bit, smiling down into Brooke's face. "Well, I was kind of hopin' that Einstein would be settling down here sometime in the near future, but the older he gets, the less likely that seems to be."

Brooke shook her head and just smiled softly. She reached up and let her hand rest on the side of Neal's face. "Love you...we'll just see how things work out, then."

"Sounds like a good plan," Neal murmured with a soft smile, turning his head to brush a kiss over the inside of her wrist.

A soft knock on the door to the waiting room side of the exam room, and Amy poked her head in. "Good news - we called on the microchip, and it was registered to a local family - the same ones who put up the missing pet flyer. They're on their way over right now." Amy smiled warmly at the couple, and nodded slightly. "You guys did good." With that, she backed away, allowing the door to click softly shut behind her.

Brooke leaned into Neal with a soft sigh. "Well, it looks like this rainy day mishap has turned into a happy ending," she whispered. She looked up and smiled at Neal. "I'm glad that she gets a happy ending."

Neal grinned and gently tugged Brooke back into the corner as Amy escorted an exuberant and relieved family of four into their exam room through one door, just as Dr. Sarah and Denise re-entered through the other door, eliciting excited cries of "Sophie!! It's Sophie, Momma!!" from the kids, who crowded around the exam table as the parents hung back slightly, their shining eyes reflecting their heartfelt gratitude.

Neal cupped Brooke's face in his hands as he gave her a soft, gentle kiss. "I'm a firm believer in happy endings, love."


End file.
